Fort Worth man relaunches late wife's hot sauce business

Shoppers in Fort Worth can now buy 12-ounce bottles of Rochelle’s CoolPepper Sauces for $10 each. The product, which includes four distinct flavors, is currently sold at small and boutique retailers, including Vendor Market Fort Worth located at 1201 Oakland Blvd. The relaunch marks a return to the market for a brand that had paused grocery sales following the death of its founder.

The sauce originated in the mid-1980s when Rochelle Denice Bradley Gales created the recipes in her home kitchen in Flint, Michigan. She developed the initial jalapeno-based recipe after trying a family member's salsa and deciding to make her own version. John Gales Jr. met her in 1998 while they were both working at a General Motors plant in Kansas City, Kansas. He said he proposed to her immediately after tasting the sauce. The couple married and continued to produce the sauces by hand until 2001.

In 2001, the couple secured a manufacturer in Missouri to begin mass production. That expansion slowed after Rochelle Gales died in a car accident in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 21, 2014. She was 49. Gales stopped selling the product to grocery stores after her death. In 2015, their children urged him to bring the brand back to the marketplace, prompting the current marketing effort.

Gales said he has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for 25 years. The brand currently has limited distribution in Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and other states. He stated that the company will remain tied to Kansas City, Missouri, even as he leads the business from Fort Worth. Gales compared the potential scale of the brand to Renfro Foods, a Fort Worth-based company known for salsas.

The current lineup includes jalapeno dipping sauce, pineapple basting sauce, tomato salsa, and jalapeno cream cheese. All bottles are priced at $10. Gales mentioned that the company has five flavors total, but he is only promoting four of them because he has a specific plan for the mild variety. He described the product as a food enhancer, a term his late wife used.

At a recent ribbon-cutting event at the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, Gales announced a national pop-up tour. The tour will take place in 18 states and Canada to increase brand awareness. He said the initiative is part of a drive to expand the brand's reach beyond its current regional footprint.

Gales credited Montel Jones, a marketing partner, with helping him restart the business. Jones told him that the product was not dead even though the founder was. Gales said his children helped get him started in 2015. He said the journey has lasted 25 years and that he feels a sense of completion in continuing the legacy of his late wife.